DYNAMICAL STUDIES OF THE OZONE ISOTOPE EFFECT: A Status Report

Dynamical studies of the recombination of O and O2 to form ozone are reviewed. The focus is the intriguing isotope dependence of the recombination rate coefficient as observed by Mauersberger and coworkers in the last decade. The key quantity for understanding of this dependence appears to be the difference of zeropoint energies of the two fragmentation channels to which excited ozone can dissociate, i.e., X + YZ ← XYZ^∗ → XY + Z, where X, Y, and Z stand for the three isotopes of oxygen. Besides the isotope dependence, the variation of the recombination rate coefficient with pressure and temperature is also addressed. Despite the numerous approaches of recent years, the recombination of ozone is far from being satisfactorily explained; there are still several essential questions to be solved by detailed theoretical analysis. We mainly discuss—and critically assess—the results of our own investigations of the ozone kinetics. The work of other research groups is also evaluated.